Stanislav Chekan

Stanislav Chekan was a Russian character actor best known as Captain Mikhail Ivanovich in the popular Soviet comedy The Diamond Arm (1969). He was born Stanislav Yulianovich Chekan on June 2, 1922, in Rostov-na-Donu, Rostov province, Russia. In 1937 his father, Julian Chekan, was arrested on accusations of anti-Soviet activity under dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. At age 15, young Stanislav Chekan was locked up in a Soviet labor camp for juveniles. There he revealed his acting talent and participated in amateur drama productions for prisoners. After liberation, from 1938 to 1941, he studied acting under Yuri Zavadsky at Rostov Theatrical School. There his classmate was Sergey Bondarchuk; the two actors became lifelong friends and eventually worked together in several films. In 1941, Chekan was recruited in the Red Army, and served in the infantry during the Second World War. He was wounded in battle, and was decorated for his courage on the battlefield. After an honorable discharge, he was assigned as actor to the front-line Theatre of the Red Army. There Chekan gave numerous performances entertaining troops at the front lines during WWII. After the war, he had a brief stint at Odessa Drama, then moved to Moscow and was member of the Central Theatre of the Red Army. Chekan made his film debut in Son of the Regiment (1946). He shot to fame in the Soviet Union with his portrayal of the legendary wrestler Ivan Poddubny in The Wrestler and the Clown (1957). During the 60s and 70s, he appeared in comedies by director Leonid Gaidai. Over the course of his career, Chekan played over 50 roles in Russian film and television productions. Stanislav Chekan was designated Honorable Actor of Russia (1955). From 1958 to 1993 he was member of the Film Actors Theatre-Studio in Moscow. He died of a heart failure on August 11, 1994, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Vagankovskoe Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.